MGS4 TGS Trailer Analysis

November 24th, 2007

Yeah, I know what your thinking, the Metal Gear Solid 4 Tokyo Game Show trailer came out ages ago. But I also know that chances are you’re bursting at the seams with anticipation for this game, so much so that even if I try to squeeze a tiny bit of juice out of this trailer it’d be worth reading.

This tiny bit of juice won’t be enough to quench your thirst though, so what I’ll be doing is backing this article up with several more analysis based articles right up to the release of this game. In the last 2 months I’ve finished almost every Metal Gear title (except for Portable Ops) and have been compiling data on everything that we need answers for. So to kick it off, lets turn back the clock to the TGS.

Now if your not sure what I am talking about then check out the trailer here. Also I suggest watching the E3 2007 trailer as well.

In the E3 trailer we learn that Liquid needs to discover more about FoxDie in order to understand how the nanomachines communicate with each other (and once he knew this he could obtain “total battlefield control”). Que for Naomi Hunter’s returning role in this series. At the start of the trailer she explains what I just said and sends out a help message for Snake to rescue her.

The first thing that you’ll probably notice is that her skin colour is much more tanned than the original MGS. The reason being that she should have always looked more tanned (due to her South African origin). Her skin tone in the original MGS was far to light IMO, so they have corrected themselves here.

The crux of this trailer really is about setting characters into their roles, the story finds uses for Naomi as well as other returning characters and introduces a new character. The scenes with Fox Hound don’t give away too much information other than:

Praying Mantis is one of the PMCs(a part of Outer Haven?)
FROGS are ‘Liquid’s private army’
Each member of Fox Hound can work together due to the nanomachines and SOP

In the next scene we are introduced to Drebin, a gun launderer with a strange monkey dressed in underwear.

What I am going to do now is skip everything else in the trailer, focus on one point for a second and then piece the rest of the trailer into a convenient, flowing storyline. After the TGS at the consumer expo E for All Ryan Payton(one of the game’s producer) revealed that there were going to be a total of five environments for MGS4. He only revealed three of them, being; the Middle East, South Africa and somewhere in Europe. Now this trailer actually reveals one more or so it seems; Solid Snake’s location of retirement; Alaska. Near the end of the trailer we see Snake and Liquid prepare for a battle between Metal Gear Rex and Metal Gear Ray(the same one from MGS2?). Now some may argue but this scene has all the constructs of Alaska.

metal gear solid 4 alaska

Okay, now lets piece together the rest of this trailer starting from the end with Johnny Sasaki whom has is a been featured in every MGS game in some form or another(read more here). We see Snake disarm him and get him on the floor. Now although the trailer doesn’t suggest this I think that after this incident Snake would meet(be reunited?) with Meryl as Johnny Sasaki is a member of the Fox Hound(which Meryl leads). We can see that this is the result because Snake is with Fox Hound at the start of the trailer.

So Snake teams up with Fox Hound, now before or after this(most likely before), Snake meets up with Drebin whom then helps Snake and Otacon ambush Liquid’s chopper, rescue Naomi and make a run for it. How do I know this? A fine eye my friend.

metal gear solid 4 eye have you

The chopper(well the convoy plane thing) holding Naomi was also seen in the E3 2005 clip. If you noticed the text on the tank in the scene with Drebin(Eyes on You) this is the same as the tank in the ambush scene as well as the chase scene (where Snake asks “Who the hell are these Patriots?”).

metal gear solid 4 liquid ocelot vamp

In the ambush scene right after the MGS4 calligraphy text we see Drebin’s tank burst through some gates and onto a landing pad where Snake and Drebin wipe out a few Metal Gears and soldiers. Later on in the montage part we see the plane take off (Otacon piloting) in this quick snippet we see Naomi being dropped into Drebin’s tank (his monkey friend also sits atop of the tank during these scenes).

metal gear solid 4 naomi hunter tank

So off the tank goes, through the middle eastern streets with Snake and Otacon following in the chopper above. Metal Gears drop into the area as they are trying to escape.

There are two interesting characters that jump in and out of these scenes, Raiden and Vamp. We see Vamp at the launching pad (with a large bullet shot wound to the head) and also on the streets throwing off his cape. Raiden is in the same sort of area. So what happens next? Cut and paste the awesome fight scene between in the E3 trailer. If you watch both trailers you can see how this then pieces together.

raiden vap battle metal gear solid 4

What I suspect Konami will do in thi part of the game is one of the awesome chase sequences. Much like in the escape sequences in MGS1 and MGS3. Which would be followed by the battle with Vamp. Although its a bit tricky to pinpoint how this will unfold exactly. Do you play as Snake in the plane or Drebin in the tank? If you fight Vamp that means that you’ll Raiden will be a playable character. I think that its likely that you’ll be able to control the tank, I’m basing this on what Ryan Payton said about the game featuring some gameplay elements from different genres.(Read more here).

Originally due to the trees in the landing pad area I thought that this might be the South African locale but because the trailer flow like it does this is obviously not the case. Also another point in question, why is Vamp trying to stop Snake get to Naomi? He’d be working for Liquid/The Patriots then.

After that juicy segment, we see Snake and Naomi by the tank, they begin to escape on foot. Naomi tears her clothes, I guess this is to make it look as though she had been kidnapped rather than saved. Otacon then starts talking about Sunny whom is obviously Olga’s daughter. This is confirmed at the end of the trailer. What I don’t understand is where she came from, was she on the chopper?

Meryl then introduces her squad, saying that they are there to investigate PMC (private military company) activity. This is followed by Snake holding a weakened (from the battle with Vamp?) Raiden in the chopper. He then takes Raiden to a cathedral where he meets Eva from MGS3. Shock horror. She’s about 70 years old and is a good guy(confirmed by Hideo, in his podcast..If I remember corretly). Why is she calling Snake, CQC Snake?

Conclusion

Well thats all I’ve got for this one trailer. I’m interested to know where the start of the E3 trailer fits in with what I have just been talking about. Next up I’ll start highlighting the questions that MGS4 should answer for us. Starting with Big Boss, I have a strong argument brewing as to why I think he is still alive and why he is going to be in MGS4. There is already some proof out there that he’ll be in this game, so as a pop quiz, can you find me some proof to his existence in MGS4? Let me know via the Contact Form and I’ll share what I have later on.